Jughead's New Neighbor
by NoPleaseStayHere
Summary: When Jughead is staying with Archie, he remembers Betty is his new neighbor. Archie catches Jughead watching Betty in her room.


Jughead leaned forward on Archie's bed, strumming the strings on the guitar a little more. He was determined to keep this instrument on his lap until he played something that sounded decent.

Archie was on the floor, finishing pumping up an air matress. He had declined Jughead's offer to help multiple times.

"Hey Jug, can you throw me my pillow?" Archie asked as he grabbed the sheets from beside him on the floor.

"No, Archie, I already told you. I'm not sleeping in the bed."

"Jughead, you're the guest. It's cool."

"I already feel like enough of a nuissance. Please, sleep in your own damn bed, I'll sleep on the floor."

"You sure?" Archie

Jughead laughed. "Yes. But I do need a pillow."

Archie laughed too, digging one out from his closet, and gently tossed it to Jughead.

"Alright, I'm gonna hop in the shower before bed." Archie said, turning towards the doorway. "Don't break my guitar." He said good-naturedly, stalking into the hallway.

Jughead laughed and strummed again. Something caught his eye in the window - shit, he had forgotten. How the hell had he forgotten that Archie's window faced Archies?

Jughead carefully put the guitar down as he heard the shower start in the other room.

He peered out Archie's window, curious as to what Betty was up to.

Jughead was leaning in so close, his nose was practically touching the glass. His breathing was causing the glass to fog.

It was a beautiful night - Jughead was tempted to just open the window. He had to do it carefully, quietly. He didn't want her to know he was there.

He didn't want to watch her for long. Just for a moment, to see what she was like when she was by herself.

Jughead slowly, carefully lifted Archie's window just far enough so he could stick part of his head out.

Betty was sitting in front of her mirror, only her profile visible to him. Her hair was loose around her shoulders. She was brushing it slowly, and it looked like she was counting her strokes.

Jughead sighed. She was so beautiful.

Betty set the brush down in front of her, gathered her hair in her hand, and placed it over her shoulder. She picked up her phone and touched the screen a few times. Suddenly, she grabbed the brush from where it was sitting and put it to her mouth, as if it were a microphone.

Jugheads face broke out into a smile.

Betty shook her head from side to side and backed up, then turned facing away from the window. She was singing, but her window was closed. Jughead couldn't tell what song it was.

Jughead actually let out a laugh as Betty moved her arms, dancing and singing her heart out.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Fuck." Jughead cursed as he hit his head on the window pane above him. He ducked to pull his head back inside, then checked quickly over his shoulder to see if Betty had heard anything. She was still dancing.

"What the hell are you doing?" Archie asked again. His hair was slick, his body damp. There was a towel around his waist.

"You must be the fastest showerer on earth." Jughead muttered.

"Were you looking at Betty? Was she changing - naked?" Archie demanded.

"No, God, dude. It's not like that."

"Not like what?" Archie said, coming closer. "I've lived across from Betty for as long as I can remember and I've never taken advantage of her. What were you doing?"

"Okay, I was looking at her but all she was doing was -" Jughead motioned to the window where Betty still had her back facing the window, wiggling to whatever song was playing. " - I was just..."

"Just what?"

Jughead backed up and sat on Archie's bed. "Look, with all this shit with Polly and Jason and her parents and the Blossoms, she puts on a strong face, you know? I just wanted to make sure she was okay behind closed doors. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't breaking down."

Archie stood and looked down to where he was dripping on the floor. "You didn't see her changing or anything?" Archie looked up and cocked his eyebrow.

"No man, it's not like that. I like her for so much more than that."

"Yeah? What do you like about her?"

"Everything." Jughead laughed. "I like the way that whenever she's near me, I feel more relaxed. At ease. Like I could do anything, conquer anything, just because she's by my side. I like how smart she is. We could have a conversation about absolutely anything and it would be amazing. I like that she likes the same movies as me, not some lame Katherine Heigl movie." Jughead sighed. "Her eyes are a perfect shade of blue - not quite sky blue, because they're lighter than that - icier. But not cold, not at all. She cares about everybody's feelings, but she's not someone you can push over or take advantage of. She'd kick ass for sure. I love how soft her lips are." Jughead laughed and pushed back his hair. "She just makes me feel like I want to be a better version of myself. But she makes me feel smart. She makes me feel capable. She makes me feel wanted. I just... I really like her, man." He couldn't stop smiling.

"Well shit, man," Archie said as he rearranged his towel. "I didn't know you liked her that much.

Jughead laughed, his cheeks reddening. "Yeah. I really like her. It's kind of scary." He looked down at the floor. "I just don't want to fuck anything up."

Archie nodded. "Let me put some pants on, then we'll talk about this some more."

Jughead stood up from the bed. "I gotta go brush my teeth and change anyway. I'll be right back."

A few moments later, Jughead knocked on Archie's half-closed bedroom door. "You decent?" He called. The bedroom light looked like it was turned off, the room only lit with a lamp.

Archie laughed and padded over to the door, opening it wider for Jughead to walk in. He had on a shirt with a bands name scrawled over it and a pair of pajama bottoms. Archie was shirtless but had on Ghostbuster pajama bottoms.

"So, I was thinking while you were gone." Archie said.

"Yeah?"

"You said Betty's lips were soft." Archie smirked.

"Yeah." Jughead blushed.

"When did you kiss her, dude?" Archie flopped down on his bed.

Jughead turned towards Betty's window. The light was off now, but a soft glow illuminated her room. She must've been watching TV in the dark.

He plopped down on the air mattress. "A couple nights ago." He said as Archie reached for the lamp and turned it off. "We were in Betty's room, the night Polly disappeared."

"Well, what was it like?"

"Amazing." Jughead sighed. His phone was plugged in, charging, but was close enough for him to reach.

Archie laughed and changed the subject. They talked for a few minutes before Jughead heard heavy breathing, assuming Archie fell asleep.

"Hey Juggie?" Archie said suddenly.

"Yeah?" Jughead said into the darkness.

"I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't tell me you liked her."

"Me too." Jughead whispered. He heard Archie roll over.

Jughead grabbed for his phone, then clicked on Betty's icon on his phone.

 **'Hey Juliet, you up?'**

A second later, Jughead's phone lit up. **'Romeo, Romeo...'**

 **'There's my girl. How are you?'**

 **'Wish you were here'** She wrote back.

* * *

Jughead woke up in a fantastic mood. He flipped over and yawned, then checked his phone for the time. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, then stood up. The air mattress deflated a lot through the night.

He looked around and noticed Archie wasn't there. He must already be downstairs.

Jughead trudged down the stairs and noticed Archie in the living room. He was eating Froot Loops and sat on the couch laughing. He must be watching Saturday morning cartoons.

"Morning, Arch. Mind if I make some coffee?" Jughead yawned.

"There's some still in the pot." Archie called.

"Since when do you drink coffee?" Jughead called from the kitchen. He pulled down a mug, then poured the coffee in. He didn't need to add anything else; he drank it black.

"My Dad left it for you. He just ran out to the construction site a few minutes ago." Archie answered.

Jughead blew into the cup to cool his coffee and padded over to where Archie was on the couch.

They stared at the screen for a minute as Jughead took his first sip.

"Must be pretty tired since you were on your phone half the night." Archie smirked.

"Shit, did I keep you up?" Jughead asked.

"It's cool, Jug." Archie smiled. "I actually have a surprise for you."

"A surprise? What do you mean?"

Right on cue, the doorbell rang.

"A surprise!" Archie reiterated. He got up to answer the door.

Betty bounced into the livingroom a second later. Jughead almost choked on his coffee.

"I'll be upstairs." Archie called, taking his bowl of Froot Loops with him.

Betty walked into the living room, her hair in a messy bun. She was wearing yoga pants and a tank top, a Riverdale High hoodie pulled around her.

"Morning." Jughead yawned. He couldn't help himself.

Betty sat on the couch beside him and curled her legs under herself. "Spongebob?" She questioned as she looked at the screen.

"Archie had it on." Jughead said as he reached for the remote.

"Speaking of Archie..." Betty started.

If he told her about last night - about me watching her - I'm going to kill him, Jughead thought.

"He told me all the wonderful things you said about me, Jug. I know it was private, but those things you said... they were the nicest thing anyone has ever said about me." Betty grabbed Jughead's hand.

"What did he tell you I said?" Jughead questioned. He put his coffee cup down on the table in front of him, grasping Betty's hand.

He couldn't be mad Archie told her, could he? He was speaking from the heart. But those things were private.

"He just said how you were telling him how safe you feel around me. How I make you want to be a better person?" She questioned. "How I relax you."

Okay, so he didn't tell her very much.

Betty leaned closer to Jughead. "I just want to tell you, I feel the same way, Juggie." Betty leaned in further until their lips were touching.

She pulled her hand around his soft cheek and caressed her thumb across his jaw. She brought her hand back, closer to Jughead's neck and touched a pinkie to his hairline. She pressed her mouth harder into his.

She broke the kiss and reached out to brush his long curl away from his face. His hair looked so unruly in the morning.

Jughead smiled at her.

"What's my girl doing today?"

Betty smiled. "Well, I have to go out with my Mom this morning. But maybe you could come over after dinner? We could watch a movie?"

"I'd love to." Jughead said as he pulled her in for another quick kiss. "It'll be so much easier sneaking in your window now that we're neighbors."


End file.
